A Case of the Flu
by confidentcoward
Summary: Bella comes down with the flu during a school day. What trouble could she possibly cause when Edward's looking after her?  O/S EXB


**Hey guys, just a little one shot I wrote to try and overcome some writers block. I'm still writing my new fanfiction and I got to a point where my brain was stumped on how to write the next part, so I thought I'd just write a little one shot to help me. Yes, it's one of those 'Bella gets sick' fanfictions, but they always make me smile at the end. :')**

**Disclaimer: Me no own, unfortunately.**

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BPOV**  
I was sat at my little table in the English classroom, pouring over the act of Henry V that we'd been analysing for what seemed like weeks, though surely was only a couple of lessons. English was, before Edward's presence in my life, the only lesson that would lighten my day- now Biology was on a similar level to it. I yawned a little and turned the page- as much as I liked English; there was a point of boredom when it came to the same scene over and over. I'd studied it once back in Phoenix too. With that thought, I relaxed a little and made a mental note to find some past essays before blocking off the rest of the class.

It was an uncomfortable hour of my life, sat staring at the slightly tattered Forks High school version of the classic play by Shakespeare, so much so that as the bell went off signalling the end of the lesson and the start of lunch, the words were already blending together on the pages. I sighed as I closed the book and rubbed across my forehead. _Maybe all the words were causing a headache._

I stood from my desk and grabbed my bag from under it and made my way to the door.

"Miss Swan?" The teacher asked, and I turned around to him and stepped away from the door, so other students could leave the room. _Lucky for them._

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on the paper on the deaths of Suffolk and York in the play. I've not seen such a in depth look at the scene in a long time." He smiled at me, his eyes creasing a little round the edges and his eyebrows raising a little, causing wrinkles on his forehead.

"I- Thank you sir." I said kindly. He nodded and returned to his desk and I took it as my queue to leave the room. Of course, as I left the door of the classroom Edward was leaning against the frame with the crooked smile that could turn a straight man just a little bit gay. Or turn me to goo, whatever you prefer.

"Well done Bella, I told you that your essay was fantastic." He leaned into me and hugged me close to his body. I took a deep breath through my nose and took in his sweet smell before looking up at his perfectly chiselled face.

"That's because you helped me, of course." I smiled softly and pulled back from the hug and took his hand as we began to walk to the cafeteria.

"If I remember correctly," Edward started, "It was you who came up with the ideas. I believe I just helped you word them a little. You'd still have done fantastically."

"Whatever." I mumbled as my hand that wasn't intertwined with his lightly slapped his hand, even if he wouldn't feel it. It was more of a knee jerk reaction.

"I'm serious Bella." He stopped in his tracks and turned to me, "You'd do fantastic if you took literature to university." I sighed, not a day went by without this conversation. I could feel my headache intensifying at the thought of this becoming yet another argument.

"Edward, you know going to university doesn't matter to me." I brought my head down as I blushed a little. "I want to be like you." I added quietly, just loud enough so only we could hear it.

"Bella." He said through gritted teeth. I took this as my chance to turn around, hold his hand a little tighter and carry on walking towards the cafeteria. He understood that I didn't want to argue about it there, and I felt his body release its tension as we walked together.

We reached the cafeteria just as it was at its full capacity of students, ravenous with hunger. Edward and I skipped the line, as it seemed Alice had taken the idea of 'picking up food for the human' little further than usual.

"Bellaaa!" Alice squealed as we sat down at the table. I looked up at her to see her practically bouncing in her seat with excitement- _nothing new there._

"Alice." I chuckled lightly.

"There's this new shop in Seattle and I was planning on taking a little trip to see what we could find in the way of something to wear for graduation." She beamed.

"Alice, graduation is forever away." My eyes widened as I shook my head a little with disbelief.

"So?" She asked a glint of mischief in her eyes. I shook my head again and looked towards an amused Jasper.

"Calm her down, please?" I pleaded with him.

"Of course." He smiled sweetly as his southern twang came out. Alice began to argue back, bus instantly calmed down, muttering something along the lines of;  
"You suck sometimes Jasper, but I still love you."

We all laughed a little and Alice pushed some food over to me and smiled sweetly. "Eat." She commanded.

"You sound like Edward." I told her.

"She's right, love." Edward said to me, "You should eat something. You're looking a little paler than usual."

"It's nothing," I protested, "I just have a bit of a headache that's all. Henry V is beginning to get too much for me with all those words. Nothing a Tylenol won't fix when I get home, I promise. I'm just not too hungry right now." Edward sighed next to me, and pulled just an apple towards me.

"Eat that, and I won't complain." He bargained. I couldn't refuse the very much Alice style pout on his face, and took a bite into the apple. _Not too bad,_ I thought, _perhaps I can get through just one apple to stop his unnecessary worrying._

I took a second bite and looked up at the three vampires who were watching me intently. I blushed at the attention with embarrassment, and saw Jasper pull a similar face, minus the blush. I laughed at him- sometimes being an empath must suck.

"Sorry Jasper." I apologized; he nodded back at me with a look that accepted my apology. I took a few more bites of my apple and set it down in front of me, "I'm done." I announced proudly.

Edward turned and looked at me, his crooked smile returned as he looked me in the eye, and I momentarily lost myself in the liquid topaz of his eyes. "Feel better?" He asked. I thought about it for a second, the headache hadn't decreased, but it hadn't increased at all. I shrugged and readjusted my position.

"No change really." Edward looked at me with concern plastered on his face. "Calm Edward," I chuckled lightly, "It's a headache. Human's get them all the time; it'll probably be gone by the time I get home anyway." I smiled reassuringly at him. He seemed to accept this, even if only a little, and calmed down a little bit.

We made small talk, from Alice's expectations of fashion for graduation, and Edward's snickering at the imbecile thoughts of the teenagers of Forks High School and, soon enough, the bell was ringing to announce the end of lunch and, for Edward and I, the start of Biology. We both stood and said our goodbyes to Alice and Jasper as we left the cafeteria and headed for Mr Banner's biology classroom.

I didn't fail to notice that, as we moved across the school my head began to bang a little more. I mentally slapped myself for not bringing any Tylenol to school.

We reached biology in time for Mr Banner to arrive and took our seats at the table on the right of the classroom, where Edward and I had first met. His hand met mine under the table and didn't leave it. We were watching a video, on the reproduction of various species. I sighed and made myself as comfortable as can be, and kept my hand in Edwards as I felt myself relaxing.

"Bella?" I heard Edward whisper, drawing a figure eight on the back of my hand. I groaned. I heard Edward's quiet dark chuckle a little, before his drawing on my hand resumed. "Bella, you need to wake up, the video's almost over."

I suddenly shot up, my face going fifty shades of red. I quickly shot my head around and saw no one had noticed my falling asleep but instantly regretted the sudden movement. "Eugh." I groaned under my breath.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked.

"My head." I whispered, as I placed my head between my hands on the desk in front of me. Whilst wallowing in my pain I heard next to me, Edward asking Mr Banner if he could take me to the nurse.

"No Edward-" I tried to protest, although the sound of my own voice made me cringe a little in pain- Edward must have been talking quietly to Mr Banner, "I'll be fine just let me wait it out?" It came out more like a question than a statement, or a demand.

The bell went off, signalling the end of class, and I cringed at the sharpness and loudness of the sound. The class began to flood out and Edward turned me round to look at him, and pulled my head into his cool hands as he looked me in the eye, before raising one hand to my forehead.

"You have a bit of a temperature Bella. Skip gym, we'll go back to my house. I'll have Alice drop your truck at your house when school finishes and leave a note to Charlie for you." He said it, like I had no choice in the matter. In fact, I really didn't.

"Skipping Edward?" I said softly.

"Skipping can be healthy sometimes." He smirked a little at the memory of the 'bloody typing' lesson, I joined him.

"Skipping it is." I muttered. Edward said something to Mr Banner that I didn't hear, and then he guided me through the corridors to the main doors out of the school, stealthily avoiding Mrs Cope's questions. The second we left the doors, I felt myself being scooped up into Edward's arms.

"Edward, put me down!" I squealed, despite the little shock it sent through my head.

"Shh, Bella." He looked down at me, his eyes concerned. I rolled my own- I'd hate to know just how concerned he was when I was in the hospital after the incident with James if this was how he reacted to a headache. I sighed and let myself relax in Edward's arms. I was asleep from the even rhythm of Edward's steps before we even reached the car.

x x x

"Bella, love." I heard Edward's calming, soft voice cut though my sleep as I shifted. We were outside the Cullen's large home and I was slumped on the passenger seat of Edward's shiny silver Volvo.

I pulled myself up and regretted it as soon as I felt whatever content that was in my stomach churn and make it way back up. I opened the door and vomited on the floor before Edward could reach me. Only a moment later, I felt myself being carried out of the car and pulled onto the cool ground and into Edward's arms.

"Are you okay love?" His voice was almost frantic with panic and concern. I tried to nod, but ended up throwing up again on the floor. "Carlisle." He said. For a moment, I wondered where Carlisle had appeared from but then I remembered, of course, it wouldn't have been hard for him to hear Edward from inside.

I closed my eyes and relaxed into Edward's chiselled chest that was covered by the snug fitting grey t-shirt and took in his relaxing scent that calmed my stomach. I felt a second pair of cool hands on my face and although I knew it was Carlisle I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes or make any effort to talk to him. I groaned and pushed my face into his cool hands, feeling refreshed with the coolness around me.

I heard Carlisle chuckle and felt Edward move his head, and then nod. _Stupid, silent conversations._

"Bring her in Edward, I'll take a proper look at her in there." I heart Carlisle say quietly, probably for my benefit so I didn't feel excluded from the conversation, but not loud enough to hurt my head.

I felt Edward's strong arms pick me up off the ground and I felt myself moving at an alarming speed towards the Cullen house. The speed done it again, and the second I hit the sofa I managed to choke out,  
"Bucket." Before I found myself being sick all over the cream carpet in the living room. I sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh my gosh, Edward, I'm sorry. I just moved too fast and now it's all over your carpet." I began to blush, but I felt embarrassed and guilty over everything else. I felt a single tear fall down my cheek before the waterworks began. "I'm so sorry." I cried.

"It's okay love, don't worry about it." Edward tried to comfort me, but I couldn't accept that. He tried to take me into his embrace, but I pushed him away and stood up from the sofa, taking a second to regain my balance.

"No, it's not okay. I'll clean it up for you." I said as I tried to make my way to the kitchen to collect the cleaning things. I felt a cool pair of hands on my shoulders and looked up to see Esme stood in front of me. As far as a motherly face like hers could go, she looked stern.

"No you don't missy, don't you worry. You're sick, I'll clean up." I sniffed and looked at her, she was just too nice. I fell into her embrace and began to sob once again. I vaguely heard her whisper something as she rubbed my back comfortingly and felt another pair of cool arms take me out of her embrace and carry me softly up the stairs.

I found myself in Edward's bedroom as he placed me on the bed he'd recently invested in and felt the smooth covers pulled up over me. I brought my legs up into a foetal position and began to sob again. _Today's just not going too well. _

Edward hugged me until I stopped sobbing, and held me until I relaxed a bit as he whispered sweet nothings into my ear. When I'd finally calmed enough in his arms, he moved to face me.

"Love, can Carlisle check you over?" He asked, evidently concerned and pained.

"Edward, does he have to?" I sniffled.

"I'm just concerned Bella, I don't want you getting really ill on me." He stroked a piece of hair out of my face to behind my ear and stroked my cheek on the way down.

"It's nothing Edward, it's probably just the flu." I said, as convincingly as I could. He froze in his place and removed his hands off my face.

"Exactly." He said, his sadness lacing his voice. I remembered suddenly, the way his parents had met their ends, and how Edward had almost lost his life. I ducked my head, embarrassed that I could forget such a thing.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I muttered.

"Please, Bella, just let Carlisle have a quick look?" He asked with his softest voice available. I nodded reluctantly and heard him whisper Carlisle's name. A second later, the door cracked open and Carlisle entered the room- black doctor's bag in hand. I sincerely hoped there was no use for needles during this 'quick look.'

"Hello Bella," He smiled politely, "I hear you're feeling a little under the weather?" He chuckled.

"You could say." I muttered. I watched as he took a seat on the edge of the bed and reached over to my head.

"You definitely have a bit of a temperature Bella." He said, as he reached into his bag and pulled out a thermometer. "Open wide." He said and placed the little thermometer in my mouth and waited for it to beep. When it finally made the silly noise, Carlisle pulled the thermometer out. "101 degrees." He muttered. He looked at me, "What symptoms do you have?" He asked.

"It's nothing, I feel fine really. It was just a little something coming over me." I tried to downplay how I really felt. Both Carlisle and Edward knew this.

"There's no point in lying love." Edward said, rubbing my back comfortingly. I groaned.

"I feel a little sick, generally very tired, my head hurts." I grumbled. I swear I felt Edward's muscles tense behind me.

"It seems like just a case of the seasonal flu- nothing some rest and plenty of fluids won't fix up." Carlisle smiled at me, and looked at Edward. "She'll be okay son." He nodded sympathetically.  
"I'll get you some ice chips, how does that sound Bella?" Carlisle asked me. I nodded. He smiled and left the room.

"You worried me Bella." Edward said as he climbed out of the bed. I moaned a little at the loss of contact.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"I'm just going to ask Esme to make you some chicken soup, it helps." He smiled softly and left the room. I fell back to sleep before he came back in again.

x x x

I woke up again, what seemed a few hours later, to the smell of chicken soup being placed on the table next to me. I looked up to see Edward standing, looking like a god as ever, by the bed.

"You've been out for a couple of hours. Alice came home and told me you'd wake up in a while, so Esme made the soup for you a minute ago." He said as he climbed into the bed with me and helped me sit up. He pulled the soup over to me. "Eat some, and then you can have some of the ice chips Carlisle brought up for you." He motioned to the cup on the side that he'd brought in with the soup without my noticing.

I nodded and took a spoonful of the soup. I 'mm'ed' at the taste of it and smiled at Edward. "Thank you Esme." I said, knowing she'd be able to hear me downstairs.

"She said you're welcome, and she hopes you're feeling a little better now." Edward said to me.

I took another spoonful of soup, and looked at him as to say 'Yes, I'm feeling a little better.' He smiled with understanding and shifted a bit of the bed unnecessarily. 

I raised an eyebrow at his unneeded movement, but passed it off as habit. I finished the soup and passed it back to him, as he placed it on the side.

"Think you can handle some ice chips love?" He asked.

"I think so." I smiled as he grabbed hold of them and passed them to me.

"Just have one for now, I'm going to talk to Carlisle and tell him you're feeling a little better."

"Can't you just call him in?" I asked.

"He went off to work around an hour ago, I said I'd call him when you managed to get something down." He smiled and got up off the bed and left the room. I sighed and leaned back, sucking on one of the ice chips until it had melted in my mouth. I was beginning to be uncomfortable in the bed, and decided to go for a short walk.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and let myself readjust to properly sitting upright before standing up and steadying myself.

I walked to the bathroom, in need of a human moment, but my stomach lurched on the first step. I ran to the bathroom and leaned over the cool porcelain of the toilet seat as I emptied the chicken soup and the little bit of water I'd managed to keep down out my system. As soon as the retching was over, and there was nothing else to be emptied I stood back up again.

A wash of dizziness overcame me as I stood up and, although I could have steadied myself, I slipped on the tiled floor and hit my head on the side of the toilet.

"Damn." I muttered as the headache returned and the side of my head began to throb.

"Bella, why can I smell blo-" Edward suddenly burn in the door and saw me on the floor.

"Oh! Edward! I-" I tried to stand up, so I could clean myself up, but the dizziness got me again and I fell into the blackness.

x x x

_Beep… Beep… Beep...  
_

I heard the distinct sound of beeping muffled somewhere in the background and I moaned a little under my breath.

"Someone turn the alarm off." I muttered, to no one but myself.

"Bella, sweetie? Can you hear me?" A liquid soft voice floated through my ears, the beeping still going. I was suddenly overwhelmed with confusion. _Well, I thought I was sleeping._

"Love?" Someone's cool hands were running over my face… _Edward's hands. _I sighed as I remembered everything. _Flu, sick, toilets, dizziness…_

"Edward?" I croaked as I opened my eyes. They felt like they had sandpaper under them, and the sudden bright light at my eyes caused me to flinch and my head to ache.

"Oh Bella, you worry me so much." He let out a breath of relief and leaned over to kiss my forehead. I took in my surroundings- I was in a hospital room.

"What happened exactly?" I asked for some sort confirmation.

"I heard you slip up in the bathroom, and then I smelt your blood. I ran up to get you but when you stood up you just… passed out." Edward's hands carried on stroking my cheek. "I didn't know what to do at first, but it smelt like you were loosing so much blood. I got you to Carlisle here as fast as I could. You've been out for about a day love."

I was shocked, I'd been out for a day?

"What about Charlie?" I remembered my father, somewhere, was probably worrying about me.

"Alice went to your house after we brought you in yesterday, he's been in here a couple of times. After Carlisle told him that you'd be fine and you'd probably just need a few hours to sleep, he went off the work but he said he'd be back in a few hours." He smiled softly. I was glad he wasn't at least putting everything on hold for me.

"When can I leave?" I inquired.

"Not just yet Bella," Edward chuckled. "Carlisle should be coming in around-" He stopped and the door opened as Carlisle walked through the door, a smile on his lips.

"Ah, Bella. It's nice to see you awake again." He smiled and laughed. "How're you feeling? No downplaying anything." He playfully scolded me as he walked to my head and felt where I guess I'd hit my head. It felt like there were some stitches there.

"My head hurts a little I guess, but aside from that I feel a lot better." I smiled.

"Well, that's good. We'll get you some real food to see if you can keep it down and hopefully we'll have you out of here soon. I'll call Charlie to let him know you're awake." Carlisle smiled as he signed something quickly on my notes and left the room.

"You're so calm about the fact you're in here love." Edward chortled.

"Well, it's just another day in the life of Bella Swan. There's been worse." I laughed with him.

"Damn that flu." Edward smiled, and kissed the top of my head, holding his lips there slightly longer than usual.

"I love you Edward." I smiled.

"I love you too Bella." He smiled back, a little crookedly, making my heart melt. The beeps got a little faster.

"What's this Bella?" He asked playfully.

"That's what you do to me." I told him truthfully. He leaned down to me and kissed me on the lips with the most passion I'd ever managed to get from him. Our lips moved in sync with each others until I had to break away for some air.

"I-Uh-Wow- What was that?" I asked, a little astounded.

"That's what you make me want to do." Edward smiled nervously.

_Wow, if getting ill always ended up like this…_

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**Bless. Sweet Edward. :')  
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